So it’s pretty clear that Mom won’t be able to go back home immediately after discharging from the hospital. She’s going to need some skilled nursing care, in a safe, secure environment. If we were rich (maybe if Mom had won a million dollars instead of $100K) I would gladly hire a private nurse to stay with my mom 24/7. But that’s not the case. Mom is a bit confused and thinks she can stay at the hospital indefinitely. The hospital will be booting her out as soon as she meets the minimum requirements for discharge. So she’s okay with staying in a facility for now, because even she understands she’s not in shape to go home just yet.

So today was the tour of skilled nursing facilities, aka nursing homes. It’s a depressing journey, but at least there is only three in town to look at. With Dad, he was simply placed in one that had availability, so we didn’t do a tour of them, but I couldn’t help but think of Dad as the facility representative mentioned the special unit for dementia patients. I saw a bit of Dad in many of the patients that were parked in the corner of a hallway, or eating listlessly in the dining room. There were also some residents that were ambling about quite well and were friendly. And then there were a couple that were screaming. It’s all part of the typical nursing home environment, and it’s where Dad spent the last year of his life.

I don’t want the same fate for Mom. She will be going into short-term care, with the plan being to get her strong and stable enough to return home with a minimal amount of supervision. Mom is tough, and loves her independence. She’s also good at following directions, something Dad of course could not do due to his dementia. So I have hope that this move will be a positive one, and that she will be out of the skilled nursing facility in a week or two.

2 responses to “A tour no one wants to take”

Good luck. That sounds like progress. I did look at “rehab centers” when mom broke her hip but she didn’t survive long enough to get to one. If they agree with the short term plan she should be treated as an able adult. With dad they acted all along as if he wouldn’t ever get out and that frustrated me. He did get out, thankfully though he moved back to assisted living. Many of my older friends have had good luck with short term rehab and then got back home to finish recovery after hip or knee surgery or something similar. It is encouraging to just make the plans. Also the social aspect may even be better thn going straight home,